Cardenas takes third Daytona SportBike win

From AMA Pro Racing

BIRMINGHAM, AL - Martin Cardenas made a race-winning pass on the penultimate lap for the second straight day to record his third AMA Pro Daytona SportBike victory in the last four races at Barber Motorsports Park on Sunday.

Riding the No. 36 Team M4 Suzuki GSX-R600, Cardenas stalked leader Jamie Hacking throughout the race before making his move in turn five on lap 15 of the 16-lap event. After making the pass, Cardenas put his head down and pulled away to win by 2.204 seconds over Hacking.

"The conditions weren't very good, and I got to him by lap four or five," said Cardenas, who moved to third in the Daytona SportBike point standings with the victory. "I knew there were 16 laps, so I didn't want to pass him and crash trying to get away, (because) maybe he would sit behind me and do the same thing that I did to him. I was going to wait until the last lap or maybe until two laps to the end, try to make a pass and then try to make a good lap and finish the race in first position. That's what I did and this time it worked out, so I ended up winning the race but it was really tough because of the conditions. My M4 Suzuki worked awesome and I want to thank everybody, the sponsors and the whole team."

In nearly a carbon copy of his start in Saturday's Daytona SportBike race, Hacking motored the No. 88 Monster Energy Attack Kawasaki Ninja ZX-6R into the lead heading into turn one on the opening lap. Unlike Saturday's race, however, when he nearly crashed at the end of lap two, Hacking held the lead until Cardenas' pass on lap 15. Hacking wound up second, putting it on the box for the second consecutive race and the fourth time in seven races.

Despite the fact that he hasn't recorded a Daytona SportBike victory yet, Hacking has finished seventh or better in every race thus far and those consistent performances have moved him to the top of the point standings by three points, 146-143, over Danny Eslick. Cardenas trails Eslick by just one point.

"I managed to glance up at the board and noticed that Martin was in P2, and I tried a couple times to put a pretty good break on him and kick down the lap times," Hacking said. "But, obviously, he was able to do the same thing and match me. I couldn't ever put anything on him and I knew there was a good possibility that I could maybe hold him off, but just gauging off yesterday's comments where he could figure out where Jason (DiSalvo) was stronger, and he decided to wait on him, I figured that's probably what he would do with me and it ended up turning out that way. 

"He managed to step the pace up a pretty good bit when he passed me and I just wasn't able to match it today. Martin rode a great race and we pulled a pretty good gap on the rest of the field. It feels good, the Monster Energy Attack Kawasaki was working great this weekend and we got two solid podium finishes. We're really looking forward to going to the Infineon race in a couple of weeks."

Charging from 11th on the starting grid, Eslick rode his No. 9 Bruce Rossmeyer's Daytona Racing/RMR Buell 1125R to a third-place result. Eslick gained two positions on the final lap of the race as Dane Westby (No. 213 Westby Racing/Kneedraggers.com Yamaha YZF-R6) and Chris Peris (No. 10 Erion Honda CBR600RR) tangled while battling for the final podium spot in the final series of turns. It was Eslick's fifth podium result from the first seven races of the season.

"It was definitely a surprise," Eslick said. "I was running just a little better than the top 10 and picked a couple of guys off, and was stuck in about fifth going back and forth with Chaz (Davies). That was the pace that I was comfortable at and that was pushing it. We were all over the place, so I didn't want to crash and give a whole bunch of points away, I just wanted to finish and get through this weekend without losing too many points and move on. Third is awesome."

Davies picked up his best result of the season to date with a fourth-place ride on the No. 57 Factory Aprilia Millennium Technologies Team Aprilia RSV1000R. Michael Barnes made it two Buells in the top five with a fifth-place performance on the No. 34 GEICO Powersports/RMR/Buell Racing Buell 1125R.

The last-lap incident sent Westby to the track medical facility and later to UAB Medical Centre in Birmingham for further evaluation. No. 32 Roadracingworld.com/Suzuki GSX-R600 rider Santiago Villa was also transferred to Birmingham's UAB Medical Centre for evaluation after an incident in turn one just after taking the checkered flag. Both riders were awake and alert before being transported to the hospital according to medical officials.

In his first-ever AMA Pro SuperSport start, Garrett Carter earned a convincing victory over polesitter Russ Wikle in the 12-lap AMA Pro SuperSport East final under conditions that were wet at the start of the race and got progressively drier throughout.

Riding the No. 31 Ridersdiscount.com/Woodcraft Yamaha YZF-R6, Carter chased down Wikle on lap four and claimed the lead from the Suzuki rider on the short straightaway between turns six and seven. Carter set sail from there, cruising to a 4.291-second victory in the race, which was shortened by five laps due to weather delays.

"It was a really good race," said Carter. "It was pretty wet at the start of the race. I think we were all still getting our feel for it, so I wasn't out there right at the start, but I got a pretty good feel for it halfway through the race, put my head down and got by quite a few guys. It was definitely a really good race. Wikle was definitely on pace and I think if he would have gotten going pretty good, he would have been with me the whole race. Luckily, I got away from him and got the win."

Wikle, who hails from nearby Huntsville, AL, earned his best SuperSport result of the season with a second-place run aboard the No. 5 Roadracingworld.com Suzuki GSX-R600. It was Wikle's second trip to the podium in the season's first three races, as he also finished third in the season-opener at Daytona in March. He is now third in the AMA Pro SuperSport East point standings with three of nine races complete.

Finishing third was Huntley Nash on the No. 15 Arai/Racing Sport Services Yamaha YZF-R6. It was also a season-best result for Nash, whose previous best run this season was a fifth-place outing in Daytona.

After winning last time out at Road Atlanta, Leandro Mercado finished fourth in the Honda Superbike Classic aboard the No. 92 Monster Energy Attack Kawasaki Ninja ZX-R6. Mercado is now second in the SuperSport East championship standings.

Joey Pascarella completed the top five with a fifth-place ride on the No. 25 Shoei/Shift/TCX/LTD Racing Yamaha YZF-R6. Pascarella leads the point standings by 13 points, 62-49, over Mercado. 

Daytona SportBike Race Results (Top 20)
1. Martin Cardenas M4 Suzuki Suzuki GSX-R600 16 Laps
2. Jamie Hacking Monster Energy Attack Kawasaki Kawasaki Ninja ZX-6R +2.203
3. Daniel Eslick Bruce Rossmeyers Daytona Racing · RMR Buell Buell 1125R +27.490
4. Chaz Davies Factory Aprilia Millennium Technologies Team Aprilia RSV1000R +27.517
5. Michael Barnes GEICO Powersports · RMR · Buell Racing Buell 1125R +27.672
6. Ben Thompson Factory Aprilia Millennium Technologies Team Aprilia RSV1000R +29.080
7. Jason DiSalvo M4 Suzuki Suzuki GSX-R600 +32.361
8. Damian Cudlin Paradigm Racing Yamaha YZF-R6 +36.442
9. Russ Wikle Roadracingworld.com · Suzuki Suzuki GSX-R600 +39.177
10. Dane Westby Westby Racing · Kneedraggers.com Yamaha YZF-R6 +41.777
11. Chris Fillmore Christopher Fillmore Racing Yamaha YZF-R6 +42.997
12. Robertino Pietri Team E.S.P. Yamaha Yamaha YZF-R6 +50.281
13. Tommy Aquino Team Graves Yamaha Yamaha YZF-R6 +50.292
14. Steve Rapp Bazzaz · Pat Clark Motorsports Yamaha YZF-R6 +54.482
15. Taylor Knapp Latus Motors Racing Buell 1125R +1:00.151
16. Shawn Higbee Higbee-Racing.com Buell 1125R +1:03.380
17. Michael Beck Team Beck Racing Yamaha YZF-R6 +1:05.731
18. Andres Londono Destiny Racing Yamaha YZF-R6 +1:05.803
19. Abe Stacey SMS Racing Suzuki GSX-R600 +1:09.857
20. Daniel Parkerson JP Motorsports Kawasaki Ninja ZX-6R +1:10.569
23. Chris Peris Erion Honda Honda CBR600RR +1:13.046

Daytona SportBike Point Standings (Top 20)
1. Jamie Hacking 146
2. Daniel Eslick 143
3. Martin Cardenas 142
4. Jason DiSalvo 117
5. Josh Herrin 114
6. Chaz Davies 90
7. Jake Zemke 74
8. Steve Rapp 67
9. Chris Peris 64
10. Michael Barnes 64
11. Tommy Aquino 61
12. Taylor Knapp 47
13. Chris Fillmore 42
14. Barrett Long 40
15. Leandro Mercado 39
16. Damian Cudlin 38
17. Ben Thompson 35
18. Roger Hayden 32
19. Ben Bostrom 31
20. Dane Westby 31
30. Miguel Duhamel 5